LEOMINSTER -- Many teenagers, no matter where they're from, believe their town is the most boring, ever.

Some in Leominster may feel that thought was validated by a recent list by real-estate website Movoto.com, which ranked the city as the most boring place in Massachusetts.

Ashley Roy, 17, however, said that's a farce. Born and raised in Leominster, Roy said she thinks the city is great and the people are friendly. Just because it doesn't have something like an amusement park doesn't mean it's boring, she said.

Ashley Roy

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"I think shopping is the best part of Leominster, in all honesty, because we have all these small businesses here, for instance, and we also have Gloria's next door, which is a bakery," Roy said. "I don't think Leominster is really boring. There's plenty of stuff you can do."

Many other residents surveyed Saturday in downtown Leominster also said the list was false.

"I don't think Leominster is boring. I think Leominster has a lot to offer," said Gloria Castano, owner of Sweet Creations by Gloria. "It's definitely not city life, but there's always something going on."

She said the downtown is bustling with activity and City Hall and the library are always holding community events.

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There are also several fairs throughout the year, Castano said, from the Summer Stroll and Starburst to the Johnny Appleseed Fair and the Haunting of Barrett Park.

"Who started such a terrible rumor?" asked Rick LeClair, 53, owner of Budo Kai Martial Arts Institute, who was at Castano's bakery Saturday with his girlfriend and niece.

He and his girlfriend, Felicia Santiago, 43, listed at least 10 local restaurants they adore, including Happy Jack's and Il Camino.

Rick Leclair said he and his girlfriend frequent many family-style restaurants in the city.

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They also pointed to other entertainment options such as bowling, mini-golf and shooting ranges.

Even if the fast-food and chain restaurants outnumber the smaller restaurants, as Movoto claims, the mom-and-pop eateries here are high-quality, LeClair said.

"We frequent a lot of the family restaurants, because I believe in feeding back into the mom-and-pop stores," he said. "I think that's really important."

"If you're talking about everyday things to do, there's the mall," Santiago said. "There are plenty of places to shop in Leominster, if you're into shopping."

While many residents surveyed were satisfied with Leominster's offerings, there are still some who feel it could be better.

Gerald Moss, 39, is among those who agrees Leominster is boring. He moved to the city about three years ago from Fitchburg, which didn't place all that far behind Leominster, at 14th-most boring in the state.

"I think we should have more things geared toward kids, and more activities for adults," Moss said. "Instead of more nightclubs and bars, we need more coffee shops."

According to Movoto.com, the list was generated by using 2010 U.S. Census data and business listings, and concentrated on the state's 50 most populous cities and towns. Among items considered in the rankings were: nightlife options, live-music venues, outdoor and active life options, arts and entertainment options and fast-food restaurants per capita; percentage of restaurants that are not fast food; percentage of young residents ages 18-34; and population density.

Leominster ranked low because of low population density, high per-capita amount of fast-food restaurants, lacking non-fast food options and lacking active life and arts and entertainment options, according to the website.

Mayor Dean Mazzarella said it's clear Movoto did not come to Leominster and did not thoroughly research the city, or it would have come to a much different conclusion.

"It's foolish to give them any credibility at all," he said. "Anyone who knows us knows we're far from boring. We have more independently owned restaurants per square mile than any other place in Massachusetts."

Mazzarella said Leominster also has "more musicians, more authors, more open space, more hiking trails, everything on down the line that they claimed they used for a checklist."

"We have more than 30 square miles of open space," he said. "Nobody has as many festivals and fun times as we do. We have more diversity in our community than most places. It just goes on and on and on."

He said the website is relatively unknown and trying to become significant in the world of real estate by inciting negative emotions in residents of places they've never been in order to drive up Web traffic. He called it "the flea-market version of Zillow."

Lists such as the ones put up by Movoto are essentially free advertising for them, Mazzarella said.

"They put these lists all over the place, and they hope everyone falls into it and passes it around," he said. "Every time you click on it, their search-engine optimization goes up. It's a bargain-basement way of marketing, I guess."

Mazzarella said the worst local people can do is give Movoto more attention.

"Don't go to the website. All it does is enable them, and they will do it to other people," he said. "By even searching their name, you're increasing their location on Google."

Mazzarella warned people about taking lists such as this seriously.

"Just laugh and move on," he said. "Don't take it for real unless you can validate who puts these lists out."

A spokesman for Movoto did not return a request for comment before press time.

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